Tag: Menu planning

Five (Really!) Simple Steps To Start Menu Planning!

Many of my clients have “Start Menu Planning” on their list of projects. And many never get around to it.  Meal planning is such an invaluable practice, for home management and peace of mind, nutrition and wellness.  People know Menu Planning is a good idea, but getting started proves too daunting.

Why Bother with Menu Planning?  Spending 30 minutes once a week to menu plan will:

  • Save money (shopping the sales, using coupons, using your food better)
  • Save time (plan ahead, cook once and eat twice)
  • Decrease stress. (Avoid the 4 pm emergency grocery run FOREVER!)
  • Allow more flexibility in your schedule.  (Be in command of Dinner Time, instead of a slave to it!
  • Provide better nutrition for you and your family.   (Home cooking is almost always the most nutritious, and family dinners are the foundation of family communications!)

But you probably know all that, just like my clients do.  So the hurdles are still “How do I start?  Where do I start?  What is the small first step that I need to take to start making this good idea a reality?”

Start Where You Are, with What You Have.  And Start Right Now. 

It takes little time and no tools. 

Just start.

  1. Start In Your Kitchen, not at the grocery.  Take an inventory, and base your Menu on what you have.  I was recently in a client’s kitchen, and she had made a list of what was in the freezer.  Brilliant!  Most kitchens I am in have too much food, which means most of us more challenged by “How to use what I have?” than by “Help, the cupboards are bare!”  So, now that you know what you have…..
  2. Make a list of your Family Favorites, and start with those (and not intimidating new recipes).  Start with meals you know your family will eat.  Have everyone list their favorites, and work those into your plan.
  3. Start with just today.  This morning, look in the kitchen and decide what is for dinner.  Decide on your dinner time, thenIMG_1520 check your recipes, if you use them, to determine when you need to get started.  Now pull out 2 baking dishes.  Load one on the counter with the non-perishables to make dinner tonight.  Put the other in the fridge with the perishables.  If you are feeling really ambitious, plan breakfast and lunch while you’re at it.
  4. Do this every day for a few days, until you get the feel for how it works.  Now go the next step, and plan a few days ahead.  Look at that!  You’re Menu Planning!
  5. Be open to changing your kitchen and your habits:
    1. A client suggested buying an extra set of measuring scoops to leave in your canisters.  The largest scoop can go in the flour, second largest in the sugar, third largest in the brown sugar, etc.  Or go to the dollar store, grab all 1 Cup scoops, and leave those in every canister. (thanks LG!)
    2. I am working on a chart for my kitchen cabinets.  The list contains all the items that I tend to use, and how many of IMG_1285each I need in a typical 2 week period (that’s how often I do my major grocery shopping).  For example, if I tend to use 4 cans of tomatoes every 2 weeks, I need 4 on hand, or I need to add some to my grocery list.  Your grocery stores have re-order points, consider this inventory control.
    3. I may not have mentioned it lately, but I love my crock pot.  At least once a week, I spend 20 minutes and assemble dinner at 8 am.  I love coming home those days to the smell of dinner cooking!
    4. A friend shared this link on Facebook, just as I was editing this article!  http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/2014/03/plan-prep-party-3-steps-to-a-cooking-at-home-habit/
    5. Also, go to www.cookingwithchefkate.wordpress.com, and sign up to receive Kate’s blogs.  She has a handy “search option”, and so many of my new favorite recipes come from Kate! (and she is a friend and just delightful!)  Check it out!
    6. Use your prep time for twice the impact.  Soup is on today’s menu, which is great because I can spend 10 extra minutes, clean and cut all the carrots and celery I bought the other day, and have carrot sticks for snacks and diced veggies for a meal later in the week.

So, I hope I have taken some of the “overwhelm” out of getting started with Menu Planning.  It really is a great practice, and saves so much time and money.   Start In Your Own Kitchen, Start Small – Just START!

Little Pieces: Paper Management to Fix My Dinner Dilemma

To sum up the article you are about to read:Image

  1. Create paper management systems that work for you, and look at them critically once in a while to make sure they are still working;
  2. Regular maintenance is key to the success of any system;
  3. Binders are a great way to store papers that you plan to use again;
  4. Look critically at your practices regularly, and be open and willing to change; and
  5. Imagine different ways that new technology can make your life easier or solve a problem

Some of you may stop there, and that’s fine.  But read on for the rest of the story….

It’s almost 2014.  And my personal resolutions revolve around healthier eating for my family, and getting fit.  So I admit to you, instead of writing my blog, I really want to clean up / clear out my recipe binder. My recipe binder project is a study in good paper management

There are a few motivators working here:

  • I just placed a 3 month order for my awesome nutritional supplements (Reliv, ask me about them!)
  • I also just signed up for a “Figure Friendly Freezer Meal Party” in January
  • I need to menu plan for the next two weeks now that we’re done traveling and hosting parties
    I plowed through my reading pile over the weekend while traveling, and have a pile of new recipes
  • I have a backlog of recipes to try

I read a couple of magazines regularly, pulling out the recipes to use later.  There seems to be so much promise, so much hope and happiness in those shiny pictures in a magazine.  Years ago, I created a binder to keep my favorite recipes close at hand.  My binder is separated into categories that work for me and my family – favorites, appetizers, main dishes, baking, sides and salads.  When I collect recipes from my magazines, I tuck them in the front pocket of the binder.  When I feel like trying something new, I pick one out and we try it.  If my family likes it, I’ll file it in the right category area.  If they don’t, I’ll toss it.  I have purged the occasional cook book, too, when I go back to it for only one recipe repeatedly.  I’ll tear the page out or make a copy in my printer, and purge the cookbook.

So here are the problems I am facing:

  • The front pocket has gotten very full, and I have more to add.
  • There are recipes that have been in the pocket for months and even years, and I have yet to try them.  Which means they no longer appeal to me, and probably never will.
  • I am turning over a new, healthier leaf and many of the backlog recipes don’t fit that vision.
  • I sometimes collect recipes on-line now.

So, this evening or tomorrow, I will spend an hour and

  1. Re-file all the favorites that we’ve pulled out over the holidays (recipes for our favorite holiday cookie recipes, sugared walnuts, and a lovely sauce for our Christmas roast
  2. Grab a sheet protector, put two new soup recipes we’ve tried and loved into it, and add it to the binder.
  3. Look very critically at this weekend’s new pile and the handful of recipes in the front pocket, and ask myself some questions.  Such as:  Is it just too complicated?  Does it contain ingredients I can not pronounce or easily find at my regular grocery stores?  Will my family turn up their collective noses?  Is it healthy?  Do I already have a recipe that is very similar?  Can I find the recipe again on-line?
  4. Start “collecting” more recipes on-line, bookmarking the pages and adding a link to my menu plan spreadsheet so I can find the recipe again when I need it.  An article I read suggested using Evernote (which I love!!) to catalog and organize recipes, too.

What can you spend an hour on this week, a small project, that will reap big rewards?  Imagine, and get to it!  Happy New Year!

Seven Family Summer Survival Strategies

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Driving home from a client appointment last week, I had some time to think big ideas.  I felt that I should be dreaming up this week’s blog article topic, but I really wanted to map out my plan for making this summer fun and relaxing, and productive, too, for all the members of my household.

I had a light-bulb moment on the Tri-State tollway – I put the two together!  So let me share ideas that work for us always, and also a few new ones that I’m trying this summer!

Seven Family Summer Survival Strategies:

  1. Have everyone stick with Morning Routines (personal maintenance).  Regardless of when I, the little guy or my teenagers get out of bed, our routines remain the same: Get up, shower, have breakfast, make your bed, put your dirty clothes away, brush your teeth.  No matter when we wake up or what is on the schedule, these tasks need to be completed before we head out for the day.
  2. Stay on top of home maintenance.  Laundry, groceries, cooking, cleaning. You can pare down some work for summer, but these household tasks are essential.  And since my kids are capable and available, they are going to help.  Which leads me to……
  3. Chore Assignments:  Make and post a schedule of activities and chores.  We have never used chore charts and my boys are too old to earn stars or treats, but the assignments are essential.  I just created a dry erase board (made a template in MS Word, slipped it in a plastic page protector), with blocks for each child’s activities and chores for the day (including food prep like grate cheese or peel carrots, mow grass, clean basement, vacuum, take out trash / recycling, pack, put laundry away, unload dishwasher, dust bedroom).  I’ll write this up and post it daily, so even if I am off to work when the teenagers get out of bed, they will know their expectations for the day.
  4. Lay some ground rules, or remind everyone what they are.  For example:
    • No company when mom and dad aren’t home, but we are open to company       otherwise.
    • No TV before noon.
    • Basic hygiene still applies, no matter when you wake up.
    • Be home by 5:30.  HOME by, not leaving your friends house by, 5:30.
    • Cell phones and tech gadgets still get turned in at 10 pm.  Non-negotiable.
  5. Lay your own ground rules.  Mine include:
    • Maintain 5:30-7 am productivity hour.
    • Abandon TV viewing altogether, until I conquer my reading pile.
    • Walk every evening with my husband.  Relaxing and fun, and good for us both!
  6. Re-work your menu planning for summer.
    • We will stock our breakfast menu planning items (go to http://colleencpo.wordpress.com/category/meal-planning-kitchen-organzing/ for more ideas), since we do have early activities to get to this summer in the morning.
    • We eat lunch at home during the summer.  No school hot lunches for the next few months.  So I asked my sons for input, into what they want on-hand for their lunches.  I stocked up on sandwich ingredients, cut fruit and veggies, chips and leftovers.  Thankfully, these are all things the boys can make for themselves or each other.
    • We eat more fresh fruits and vegetables, thanks to my local farmers market.
    • In an effort to keep the house cool, I rely heavily on my crock pot and grill during the summer.  If I have to turn on the oven, I will make 2 or 3 items all at once (like bake cookies, bread and potatoes), to make the most of the hot oven!
    • May was ridiculously busy with after-school and evening activities.  I am just looking forward to cooking, and eating together as a family more consistently!
  7. Slow down and Have Fun!  We had a number of activities and tasks to complete this past weekend, but we also had some unstructured personal time, and it was lovely.  In addition, we’re all making our list of things we want to go and do this summer, like road trips, movies, adventures and hikes, and favorite ice cream haunts!

So, spend some time this week working on your plan to make your family’s summer great, too!

Breakfast Planning: Make It An Easy & Healthy Habit!

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Good morning! I worked with a coaching client last week, and we strategized ways to improve her family mornings. She is very health-conscious and creative, but does not feel creative early in the morning (who does?). So we applied some menu planning strategies to Breakfasts. It was such a great idea that I just had to write about it this week!

Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day. It gives our body fuel and sets the tone for the day ahead. And why do we menu plan? To eat well, save time, make healthy choices, save money. Hmmmm…, yep, all of those work for Breakfast just like dinner!

Menu planning helps us to live better, and you can take this opportunity to improve your day. We have two big challenges in our house. First, I am a stickler for a balanced breakfast, supplying good energy and focus through the day.  We all operate best with a blend of fruits or veggies, good and complex carbs, and protein, but a balanced breakfast is not always a quick breakfast. Second, our morning schedule is crazy with 5 different wake times and 5 different start times for school or work. We need to have quick and healthy options that my teenagers can make for themselves.  So here is our plan!

With any menu plan, we start with our schedule. List the days, then list the events, activities or ideas you already have for those days (this is cobbled together from my client call and my life):

  • Sunday: Bagels from a nearby bakery
  • Monday: Smoothie with fruit from Sunday’s Farmers Market
  • Tuesday: Build Your Own Breakfast
  • Wednesday: purely portable, early morning meeting
  • Thursday: Build Your Own Breakfast
  • Friday: Dad’s late morning, he’s making omelets!
  • Saturday: Pancake Morning

Build Your Own Breakfast Ideas: A few years ago I put a spreadsheet on the fridge, to help my boys make healthy choices in the morning. The idea was to take one item from each category to build a better breakfast. The categories are:

  • Fruits: grapes, apple, banana, melon, orange juice, strawberries
  • Protein / Dairy: milk, yogurt, protein shake, peanut butter, bacon, sausage, omelet, hard-boiled egg, cheese stick
  • Good Carbohydrate: toast/bread, bagel cereal, pancakes , waffle, granola bar, breakfast bar

Other Tips to Make a Better Breakfast Happen

  • My kids love staying in hotels and hotel breakfasts. Take a cue from your favorite breakfast bar. We choose foods with our senses. Present good and healthy choices, and that is what your family will choose.
  • Our freezer is stocked with pre-cooked bacon (Costco), microwaveable turkey sausage patties, mini pancakes or French toast sticks (Market Day).
  • The bread basket holds whole wheat mini bagels or raisin bread for toasting.
  • The fruit basket has apples, bananas and oranges.
  • The snack basket has granola bars and protein bars (Nature Valley) and cereal bars (Special K)
  • The fridge holds leftovers (yes, I had tuna salad every day for breakfast last week), peeled hardboiled eggs and cut up cantaloupe.
  • If I am feeling really kind, I make a breakfast egg and bread casserole, and the boys will warm up a piece.
  • I made a coffee cake this evening for a school event, and my oldest son announced he loves that coffee cake and would eat it every day. So, note to self, throw together more coffee cakes and muffins, even healthy ones, and he and his brothers will eat them!

So, pick just one or two of these tips to try this week, to Build a Better Breakfast and start your days right!

Menu Planning as a Spring Survival Tool!

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(edited from April, 2011 post)dinner time

A friend called Spring “Hot Dog Season”.  I thought it was in deference to baseball, but it was because with all her family’s activities, that’s all she has time to make for dinner these days.   I recommended Menu Planning, and here’s why!

Menu planning is the strategic planning of your meals for the week.  It enables us to use our resources well, saving time and money, and making the most of our storage space. If we had special considerations like food allergies or a special diet, menu planning would be even more invaluable, helping us focus on what we can eat, not what we cannot.

So, how to do it?  On a piece of paper, spreadsheet or on this week’s calendar page:

  1. List the days of the week, and set some themes, if you’d like, to help you come up with ideas (my biggest personal challenge is just coming up with ideas).  For example, ours are:
  • Sunday: Family Dinner / New Recipes
  • Monday: Soup / Salad / Sandwiches
  • Tuesday: Italian
  • Wednesday: Mexican
  • Thursday: Grill-ables
  • Friday: Pizza / Lenten Friday
  • Saturday: Seafood / Grill-ables / New Recipes

2.  Come up with a list of 10-15 Favorites for your family, perhaps in keeping with the aforementioned themes. I try a new recipe every week or 2, and add it to our list of favorites if the family really likes it.

3.  Look at this week’s schedule, noting special events or arrangements.  Then put it all together:

  • Sunday (Sunday Dinner): Family Party in Michigan – No cooking for me!
  • Monday (Soup/Salad/Sandwiches) (CCD – early / easy dinner) – Chili / Mac and Cheese
  • Tuesday (Italian): Spaghetti and Meatballs
  • Wednesday (Mexican): Chicken tacos (make rice and chicken in the morning)
  • Thursday (Grill-ables) (Band After school, late dinner) – Pork Chops and sweet potatoes
  • Friday: (Meatless) – Pizza and salad
  • Saturday: (Grill-ables): (Birthday dinner) Corned Beef, Mashed Potatoes

Tips to make it work:

  1. Realize any good plan is a flexible plan. We use our menu plan as an inventory for what we have on hand. If my plan for today falls through, I can look at the menu for later in the week, and know what else I have on hand to cook.
  2. Enlist Aid: Get your family to help with planning and implementation of menu planning. When my sons help me plan, they are assured of having things they like to eat from every meal, so it is worth it to them to help me out.  In addition, they are more likely to eat  a meal they had a hand in preparing.  They are pretty good sous chefs, cleaning and peeling vegetables, shredding cheese, reading recipes or directions on boxes, setting and clearing the table.
  3. Cook dinner in the morning (or the day before).  Right now, our dinner hour is crazier than our mornings, so we get creative! Anything taking more than 30 minutes to make is relegated to the weekend, the Crock Pot, or a different time of day.  We love Spanish rice with our taco night, but it takes 35 minutes to make, so I make it in the morning and leave it in the fridge to warm up at dinner time. I have gone so far as to assemble 3 casseroles on Sunday for the next three days.
  4. Double up on your prep:
  • Clean and prep your veggies when you bring them home.  We shred a cup or two of carrots for recipes later in the week, dice extra onions or peppers, split up meat into appropriate serving sizes and add marinade while frozen.
  • We brown 3 pounds of ground meat at once, re-freezing it in 1 pound blocks, thawing as needed.
  • We also cook or grill extra meats to put in salads or soups later in the week. Which leads me to ….

5.  Get over your LeftOvers.

  •  You may have to sell the idea of Leftovers to your family, but they are a valuable component of menu planning. If it weren’t for leftovers, my hubby would eat out downtown for lunch every day. At $10 a meal. Yikes.  There are days we would starve if not for leftovers!
  • Call them something else, or Pair them with a positive experience. Instead of left-over night, call it Tater-Tot Night or Dessert night, or whatever will make your own family happy.
  • Pair a left over of one thing with a new side and a new veggie, or make it look different, like grilled chicken breasts from Monday sliced and layered on a Caesar salad on Wednesday.

Off to class and baseball practice and scouts, so glad I planned my dinner!  Try these ideas this week, and let me know what you think of menu planning!

3 Tips: Frozen Dough, Favorite Cookies and Creative Gift Giving

I love to bake, and I love to share what I bake.

I learned how to bake from my Mom, and I bake a lot for my Dad.  My Dad is a great guy, but is, shall we say, difficult to shop for.  He encourages creative gift-giving, which is tough when he is the guy who truly has everything he needs.  But it just so happens, he loves cookies.  So last year for Father’s Day, I researched Cookie of the Month Clubs.  There are few out there, but they all cost A LOT for a few cookies.  Then I realized that my cookies are better than most, so my gift to him was a list of our top 10 favorite cookies, with optional raisin and nuts, and a batch of homemade cookies of his choosing shipped to him every month.  He really likes the gift, so much so that he asked me to renew the offer this year.

     So, Tip # 1 for the day is to think outside the box, or in this case, inside the oven, when it comes to gift-giving.  This is the season for graduations and wedding, so be creative when you think about your friends and family, and consider what they really want may be some of your time or talents, and not just $$ or a gift in a box (thought those are lovely, too!!).

At the same time I was baking today, a reader responded to my recent menu planning blogs and reminded me of a fabulous cookie-related tip that I just had to share!  I often suggest this tip around the holidays, but as this reader proves, it is a great idea all year around!

From Laura:  “As I was making cookies for my teenage son and his friends yesterday, I thought it would be a good idea to cook half of the cookies and make the remaining batter into frozen pucks like the ones we purchase for fundraisers, to use later.  I also thought it might be a good idea to put the dough in mini muffin tins while they freeze, to help with consistency of size and shape. Freezing the dough also helps eliminate the temptation of mom eating the cookies!  Next time the boys are over, it will be easy to bake up a couple dozen fresh, homemade cookies.”

     Tip #2, I suggest taking cookies all the way to ready to bake on the cookie sheet, but pop them in the freezer instead of oven.  Once frozen, place in a freezer bags then bake as needed, no need to thaw.  A few caveats:  do not tell your family that there are frozen dough balls in the freezer.  And store them in an opaque container, labeled something un-interesting or even undesirable like “beef tongue” or “brussel sprouts” if you want them to stay around for a while.  🙂

And Tip #3 is the actual recipe for our current favorite cookie, here is the link: The Traditional Nestle Oatmeal Scotchie Recipe and our secret is adding 1 ½ cups dried cherries to the dough with the morsels.

Thanks to Laura for sharing her idea, and I hope you try and enjoy the cookies!

The recipe below, from the Nestle Website:

  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or grated peel of 1 orange
  • 3 cups quick or old-fashioned oats
  • 1 2/3 cups (11-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ®  TOLL HOUSE® Butterscotch Flavored Morsels
  • OUR ADDITION, 1 1/2 c. dried cherries.

PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

COMBINE flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in oats and morsels. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 7 to 8 minutes for chewy cookies or 9 to 10 minutes for crisp cookies. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

PAN COOKIE VARIATION:  Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan. Prepare dough as above. Spread into prepared pan. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes or until light brown. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Makes 4 dozen bars.

Kid Convenience and Nutrition in My Clean Freezer!

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I am the mother of teenage (and younger) boys, which means purchasing, preparing, serving and consuming food, and cleaning up feels like a full time job.  I’ve been strategizing to streamline our schedules and routines, so my first project was to make the kitchen more user-friendly, for convenience and good nutrition, for my boys, starting with the Freezer.

My objectives for the Freezer Clean Out Project were to

  1. make kid-favorites more accessible;
  2. inventory what I have on hand for an upcoming menu planning day / grocery trip; and
  3. purge the icky stuff.

With my objectives in mind….

  1. To start, as with all kitchen organizing projects, I made sure to have a clear work space.
  2.  Image
  3. Next, I put all the contents of the top freezer shelf on the counter.
  4.  Image Image
  5. Then I:
    • tossed the unidentifiable bread products;
    • discarded the excessive packaging from our last Costco bread purchase;
    • was distracted by the frozen raspberries and ½ container of frozen cool whip – dessert?!?
    • realized we have way too many frozen green beans;
    • grouped veggie bags in their bin;
    • re-stocked the breads, and left a loaf out on the counter for a change.  We usually freeze our bread and defrost just what we need, but we use it faster in the summer when everyone is home for lunch (my oldest makes a de-lish grilled cheese!).
    • Note:  Bins and baskets are great in the freezer for lending structure to the slumpy bags, and making it easier to stack and access stuff.  High-end appliances have them built in, but I use bins from Target for the same result.
    • Note:  I really appreciate the removable ½ shelf in my freezer (see photos above), it has been great for protecting our loaves of bread from getting squished.
  6. On to the bottom shelf:
    1. I dumped all the contents on the counter, again, and wiped off the bottom shelf.
    2. Our bottom shelf is mostly meats, so I took out the two baskets and sorted the contents.  I moved the microwave-able breakfast meats within easiest reach of the door, and placed the packaged meats like hot dogs and meatballs in the bin next to that.  The boys now know which bin is which, so if they feel like making a meatball sub or hot dog for lunch, they can.
    3. The  dinner meats are all together, and I’ve noted what we have on hand for making this week’s menu.  Pork Chops anyone?
  7. Door:
    1. This is the kids’ go-to place in the freezer. Upper left bin is designated for buns and bagels, easily visible and accessible.
    2. Upper right bin is for ice packs for lunches and coolers.
    3. Bottom shelf is self-serve for frozen lunch items and snacks.
    4.  Image
  8. Other things I did just this morning, to make good nutrition more convenient:
    • Hard-boiled and peeled a dozen eggs, since since self-sufficiency and good nutrition are the objectives and the little guy is not adept at peeling. The boys love slicing them up for breakfast.
    • Cleaned and cut carrots and veggies for quick snacks, cleaned fruit for the bowl on the counter, and re-stocked the granola / breakfast bar stash.
    • Explained all the updates to my darling children so they would know what and where things are, and would need to bug me less.  I hope. The real test will be in about an hour, when they get hungry.  Again.  Ahhh, teenagers.  Maybe the big guy will make his mom a grilled cheese!

The freezer project took all of half an hour last week, and the kitchen prep time this morning was minimal.  Think about your home and routines – there are probably lots of quick projects you could accomplish together that would make your life simpler, too.  If you need a place to start, check out your Freezer!

Spring Sports Survival Secrets

     A week ago, I posted this to Facebook from the baseball field: “It has begun. Spring sports season. Three sons, 1 time, 1 soccer game, 2 baseball practices, three locations. Bring it on!”

     I am not whining (much). I asked for this. I signed the boys up, wrote the checks. I love that my boys are involved in activities. I could limit the activities, I’m the mom and that’s within my rights and power.

     But I like the busy schedule. April is especially tough, though, schedule-wise. School activities are wrapping up, with honor band and choir, and lots of concerts and events. Then we add sports to the mix, with practices and games. So while I am not whining (at least not at the moment), I must plan and strategize to maintain a normal household and business during the busy times.

     I am calling this the Spring Sports Survival Secrets, but it can be used any time you need to get back to basics or live portable-y!!

1.  Clean out your Car for spring.

  • Grab a sheet, lay it on the ground. Take everything that is not nailed down out of your car and lay it on the sheet, then use Julie Morgenstern’s SPACE method.
  • SORT what you have. Categories could include necessary electronics (GPS, phone charger); car maintenance; emergency items like jumper cables; first aid kit, etc., you name it.
  • PURGE what can go (old mail, food wrappers, homework, single gloves, old receipts, etc.)
  • TAKE A BREAK, and Wash your car, either at a car wash or by hand, and vacuum it.
  • ASSIGN a home to the items that will go back in your car, and CONTAINERIZE them.
  • Do you know what a projectile is? In an accident, it is anything not strapped down in your car.  Bundle all the car maintenance or emergency items into a clear tote, and secure it safely.  I use Ziploc zippered totes.
  • EQUALIZE means maintenance. Clean out your car every day or at least once a week. Maintenance is quicker and easier than doing major cleanings

2. Review the basics: Clothing / Shelter / Food

  • Laundry basics:  laundry goes in the hamper immediately, or the uniform will not be clean for tomorrow.
  • Buy extras of always-used things, for example we have lots of baseball pants and socks from past seasons, so our new uniforms can be saved for games.
  • Start a load every morning or every night to stay on top of things.
  • Re-pack the sports bags as soon as you get home from games or practice. Very often we go to practice right after school, so having the bag packed and back in the car is invaluable to getting to practice on time!
  • Shelter: Home Management:  Invest time in maintenance every day. The last thing you and your kids may feel like doing at 9 pm after 2 baseball games is tidying up or putting stuff away, but you will thank yourselves the next morning.

3. Food: Menu Planning is so important it deserves it’s own space. I no longer remember how to NOT menu plan, because we’ve been doing it so long, and I find it so valuable.

  • Click here for a past blog on the topic, http://colleencpo.wordpress.com/2011/12/06/how-can-you-not-menu-plan/
  • Write the next 7 days on a piece of paper, look at what is in the cabinets and freezer, and write down your dinner plan for each day.  Suggestions include:
  • Cook twice as much food on some days, to have planned leftovers the next day (for example, extra grilled chicken can go in a soup or salad the next day) 
  • This also works with meatloaf, casseroles, chilis or soups, cook two and freeze one for next week
  • Make dinner at 7 am, or 2 pm, or whatever time you have. I have been known to make rice or mashed potatoes while getting ready in the morning, to warm up at dinner time.
  • I assemble two or three dinners on an easy scheduled day or Sunday night, and tuck them back in the fridge for later in the week (lasagna, enchilada or taco casserole, etc.)
  • Make your own convenience food. We make ahead bags of salad, hardboiled eggs, diced carrots and celery and other veggies for quick meals.

4. Stock the Mom Bag to keep in the car. My Mom Bag includes: clipboard and homework essentials (for long rides to soccer games), long sleeve shirts and hoodies for me and the boys, baseball cap for me, folding chairs, a blanket or 2, first aid kit, tissues and antibacterial wipes (porta johns, anyone?), water bottles (though we try to bring re-usable ones as much as possible), granola bars, nuts / trail mix, a magazine or book for me, and a soccer ball for the 7-year-old for waiting time.

5. Go to bed. Seriously. You and the kids. Everyone lives better with good sleep.

     So try a tip or even two this week, and enjoy the sport season!  See you at the baseball game!

Christmas Dinner: Food and Guests Rule

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     When I blogged about menu planning a few weeks ago, my message was about saving time and money.   For special occasions, though, we want to make a meal to delight our guests.  For those events, we focus on the guests, the food and the presentation. 

     Menu planning is always a help, making impressive meals easier!  The process is similar, regardless of the focus of your meals. 

  1. Start with cleaning up your kitchen, cleaning out the fridge and clearing some work space!
  2. Consider your guests, family traditions and other logistics.  For example, I need to make sure there are ample veggie options for the vegetarians coming to Christmas dinner, and someone in the family does not onions.  We also have a Christmas Birthday in the house, so we always have birthday cake for dessert!  Logistically, count guests and plan your servings accordingly.   Remember it’s better to have leftovers than not enough.
  3. Make your menu.  Determine if and what anyone else is contributing to the meal.  Let those folks bringing items know what time dinner will be, so they know when to arrive and can determine if their dish needs to come hot or cold to your meal.
  4. Look at your recipes, check what you have on hand and make your grocery list.  Shop at least a few days ahead of time, so you can start your prep, though you may have to run out for forgotten items or last-minute purchases.  Our menu for Christmas, and my grocery items and notes in parentheses, are as follows:
    1. Ham with glaze (my MIL brings the ham, buy cranberry sauce and marmalade for the glaze, I have the rest)
    2. Baked sweet potatoes (MIL will bring)
    3. Baked or mashed potatoes (have)
    4. Biscuits (have)
    5. corn casserole (a family favorite, check sour cream, I have the rest of ingredients)
    6. green bean amandine or Christmas (petite) peas with lemon zest (buy veggie, and almonds or lemon)
    7. A pear, walnut and pomegranate spinach salad I am cobbling together from 2 recipes, choosing my favorite parts of each.  (here is one, Kraft special spinach salad, the other is from FamilyCircle.com) Should be very pretty and colorful on the table.
    8. Turtle brownies for the birthday boy (buy cake mix and caramel, have condensed milk)
    9. Cheese cake with raspberry sauce (have most ingredients, buy graham crackers and frozen raspberries)
  5. I really love cooking a big holiday meal for my family.  But it takes time in the kitchen on those special days, so I do as much as possible ahead so I can still enjoy my guests.  I can do the following a day or 2 before:
    1. Clean out fridge
    2. Make glaze
    3. Scrub potatoes
    4. Shred cheese for biscuits
    5. Sugar walnuts
    6. Bake desserts, make raspberry sauce
    7. Ice / chill wine and beer
    8. Check table linens
  6. One of my favorite tips:
    1. Wash serving dishes and roasting pan ahead of time, leave them on the counter.   
    2. Write item name on a card (or click here to see my porcelain cards) and leave card on corresponding serving dishes;
    3. Place serving dishes on server or table to make sure there is room for everything.
    4. Helpful guests can place the items in the correct dishes with the correct cards.  Let others help you!!
  7. Check the cook times on your items, then move back from your dinner time to determine when items go in the oven to have them all done at the same time.  For example: 
    1. (4 hours prior) Bake Ham
    2. (90 minutes prior) Bake sweet and regular potatoes (or mash them)
    3. (75 minutes prior) Assemble and bake corn casserole
    4. (half hour prior, take out ham to make room) Bake biscuits
    5. (Last half hour) Steam and assemble vegetable, assemble salad, set table

     What are you doing for Christmas Dinner?  And what can you do ahead of time to make things go more smoothly?  Use menu planning to make a great Christmas Dinner for your guests, while allowing you a chance to get out of the kitchen to enjoy them!  Merry Christmas!

How Can You NOT Menu Plan?

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A woman next to me at the grocery last week admired my organized list.  I mentioned how we always post a list on the refrigerator so we can note when we run out of something, and how the list is handy when it comes to menu planning.  Which naturally led to “Menu planning?  What is that?”  I’ve menu planned for so long, I honestly don’t recall how Not to menu plan.  It is so easy, essential and helpful, I don’t know folks survive without it, especially during this busy time of year!

So, make a calendar of this week and note any special events or scheduling issues.  Then think about what food you have on hand and what you want for dinner this week.   For example,

  • Sunday:  Dinner with friends, take a side dish
  • Monday: home day, Make Soup
  • Tuesday: volleyball game, left-overs
  • Wednesday: Taco!
  • Thursday: Home early, grill chicken
  • Friday: tournament / scouts, Pizza?
  • Saturday: Party

Why should you menu plan this time of year?

Save money and make space.  Menu planning helps you use what you have and make room in the cabinets or freezer for baking or party food.  Make space, buy less, waste less!  Once you make your plan, you may find you don’t need to go shopping!

    1. Plan your leftovers.  I’m home today and have time to make soup, so I am turning a frozen turkey carcass into turkey noodle soup by dinner (hmmmm, I think I can say I have never used the word “carcass” in a blog before!).
    2. Sunday I’ll make a ham, then dice the leftovers for chef salad and a carbonara pasta sauce next week.  I also made extra cheese sauce the other day, to be used on pasta one day next week when we are really busy!

Save time.

    1. Don’t go to the grocery unless you have to!
    2. I can put a roast, soup or stew in the crock pot at 7 am, ignore it all day, and still have dinner ready at 5 pm.  I typically have more food prep time in the morning than I do after school, so this works out well for us.  But making dinner at 7 am requires a plan!
    3. Plan your prep:  I have a great tray that makes it easy to bring veggies and dip to holiday parties.   I peel and cut lots of veggies all at once, then use them for 3 or 4 parties, plus in recipes at home.  And now my sons are old enough to help with the washing and peeling!

Provide good nutrition and peace of mind.

    1. When the weather turns colder and the schedules heat up, we all tend to catch colds.  Good nutrition helps us stay well and keep our energy up for holiday fun and activities.  We eat better and better-for-us food with menu planning.
    2. My oldest son thanked me recently for NOT relying on fast food to feed him and his brothers, even when we’re busy (I was floored, right?!).  He and I agree that fast food is convenient, but we are not used to the grease and carbs and don’t particularly like the taste.

So, as I finished this, I got up and put the diced-last-week carrots, celery and onions in my soup pot. Now I’ll edit it, send it for publication, and get cracking on cleaning out my fridge and freezer and putting together the rest of my menu plan.  Give yourself the gift of time and menu and a little sanity, and give menu planning a try this week!